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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

MURPHY PROVIDES ROUGHRIDER UPDATE

Saskatchewan Roughriders Assistant V.P. of Player Personnel John Murphy appeared on 620 CKRM's SportsCage on Monday to provide an update on the goings-on with the team. However speaking from his home in New Orleans, Murphy admitted we are currently in a "dead period" on the CFL calendar.

"I think it's more of quiet time because everybody is hunkering down to see what they saw at E-Camp, and are starting to find other kids that'll be in this CFL draft (May 10)," Murphy explained. "Guys that didn't go to E-Camp or were injured and didn't get a chance to perform there. We're doing some research on the regional combine guys and make sure we've dotted all our I's both for that part of the evaluation and also for the minicamps."

Murphy said the most notable thing on the horizon for CFL teams is their minicamps which are scheduled for next month.

"Teams are starting to post dates for their minicamps and six or seven of the nine teams will have completed their minicamps by the third week of April," Murphy said. "It's a busy time on one part of the ledger but maybe it's more of a quiet time on the other side. But like I spoke about during free agent time, I do expect that there'll be a second wave of free agency which will probably come in that late-April to training camp timeframe after teams put their eyes on their rookie and first year players.

"There's a strong possibility that there will be some roster movement taking place at that time and some excitement will take shape. But there's not too much excitement right now that the fans get to see and talk about but there's still a lot of work that needs to get done in the next couple of weeks before minicamp. Following that camp coaches will get some time off. They're working through the Easter holidays and then they'll get time off after the camp and come back to Regina in late-April to get ready for the draft on May 10."

I mentioned to Murphy that perhaps we're currently in a "third wave" of free agency since players like John Chick, Weston Dressler and the like were snapped up in early February while players like Chris Getzlaf and Chad Owens had to wait a few weeks before signing deals. Now CFL vets like Tyron Brackenridge and Juwan Simpson - who are still on the market - have to sit by their phone and wait for an offer.

"Sometimes this gets to be the time like during the sixth and seventh round of the NFL Draft where players are saying that, as crazy as it sounds, you'd almost like to go undrafted because then you get to pick your spot," Murphy theorized. "With a guy like Brackenridge or Juwan Simpson and other quality candidates like that who are still out there, they're probably thinking there's nothing they can do in a training camp atmosphere to prove what you still have on the table. Do you want to risk playing in a preseason game or are you better off waiting for a Week 1, 2 or 3 injury so that you can go to a team and know you're looking at a full year's salary? With the ups and downs of the salary cap era, teams are going to wait to see what the young guys can do before they jump on a veteran guy."

The Roughriders 2016 spring minicamp is scheduld for April 9, 10, 11 in Vero Beach, Florida.